Luke Campbell: net zero is 'more hype', Reform UK Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral candidate says

It is expected to be a rare four-way race between Mr Campbell, Tory candidate Coun Anne Handley, Labour’s Margaret Pinder and Lib Dem Coun Mike Ross.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Yorkshire Post, the boxing superstar explained how his sporting prowess was helping him in his new political career, his priorities if elected and his views on Mr Farage.

“The only thing that inspired me to stand forward was the potential good I could do for my community,” the 2012 Olympic gold medallist said.

“Hull and East Yorkshire gave me everything, they supported me my whole career.

“I want to give back, I’m one of the people of this region and I want to stand up and fight for what the people want.”

He said he was drawn to Mr Farage by his focus on “ common sense … family, community and country”.

The Yorkshire Post asked Mr Campbell about Reform UK’s policies to end the drive to hit net zero by 2050 and tax all renewable energy.

The clean energy sector is a big employer in the region, with the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull currently employing more than 1,000 people to build 300 sustainable wind turbine blades for a North Sea farm.

Mr Campbell said Reform’s policies would “bring back oil and gas and drilling and stuff like that, which then would create more jobs or if not just the same”.

“Siemens is a fantastic company, they’re great for us locally at the moment,” he said.

“The net zero thing, personally, I think it’s a lot more hype.

“What difference is a small little country like England going to make on the world map, when you’ve got China doing what they’re doing?”

“I don’t necessarily think that people will be worse off or be out of jobs,” he added.

Mr Campbell said he did not have a view on the potential for carbon capture, utilisation and storage funding from the Government for the Humber.

Carbon capture aims to trap harmful by-product gases, compress them, and store them in huge underground tanks beneath the North Sea.

The fledgling technology is touted as an alternative to releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

Labour previously said the region was part of the second round of CCUS funding, after multi-billion pound projects in Teesside and Merseyside.

Business groups say they are ready to invest more than £15bn in decarbonisation projects in the region, if the government goes ahead with CCUS investment.

Mr Campbell said he did not have a view on this yet, adding: “I’m interested to learn more about it.”

He said his main priority, if elected, would be “to cut waste in the councils and make them accountable for what money is spent and what it’s spent on”.

In particular, he cited the £21m being spent on the regeneration of Queens Gardens in Hull.

Fellow candidate, Hull Council leader Coun Ross said: “The works will ensure that this much-loved and cherished green space, in the heart of the city centre, is future-proofed for generations to come.”

However, Mr Campbell hit out at the project: “That is doing nothing to the economy, it’s not growing businesses, it’s not giving people opportunities - I don’t understand what that’s achieving.”

He added: “Listen, I’m not in the know yet - if I get elected I’ll be able to say more than I’m saying so far.”

The 37-year-old said that “lessons I learned in that square ring have given me more life lessons than anything else”.

He said he would take these into his political career: “You get hit, you get back up, you’ve got to stay positive, you’ve got to keep believing.”